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106 Pitt Street
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
John Girault, Executive Director
Phone: 843-884-1060
Fax: 843-388-8920
What is a Conservation Easement?
A conservation easement is a tool landowners can use to voluntarily protect their land. Simply put, a conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a nonprofit conservation organization, like the Mount Pleasant Land Conservancy (MPLC), that permanently limits a property's uses in order to protect its conservation values. An easement allows the landowner to determine how their land will be used in the future. Conservation easements can help permanently protect significant ecological, cultural, historic and archaeological areas. Once it is recorded and attached to the deed, all future owners are bound by its terms.
When you own land, you also own many rights that come with the land. When you donate an easement to the MPLC, you voluntarily and permanently give up some of those rights. For example, you typically give up the right to develop the property for commercial or industrial purposes to protect the land from further development. You retain ownership of the property and certain other rights. Examples of these rights might include the rights to hunt, fish, engage in agricultural activities, and harvesting timber. In some circumstances, you may be able to retain some limited rights to subdivide and/or build additional residential structures and related buildings on the property. An easement is flexible and is tailored to meet your vision and protect the conservations values of your property.
This donation of rights has a value. If your gift meets the federal tax code requirements for protecting the conservation value of the land, the donation of a conservation easement can be treated as a charitable gift and its value can be deducted from your federal income taxes. In addition, you may qualify for tax credits on your
According to the Land Trust Alliance, more than five million acres in the
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106 Pitt Street
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
John Girault, Executive Director
Phone: 843-884-1060
Fax: 843-388-8920